School funding big issue for P-H-M board candidates

Hopefuls have classroom, board and volunteer experience.

Hopefuls have classroom, board and volunteer experience.

November 01, 2006|ERIN MILLER Tribune Staff Writer

MISHAWAKA -- Voters deciding how to fill an at-large opening on the Penn-Harris-Madison School Corp. board will weigh classroom experience against school board experience and involvement in numerous parental organizations. Incumbent Susan Warner is seeking her third four-year term on the board. Retired Penn High School teacher Charles Gollatz and P-H-M Forum member Aimee Brinker are challenging Warner for the seat in the only contested race for the school board this year. All three candidates say school funding, particularly when it comes to Indiana's school funding formula, is the biggest issue facing the district. And all three think P-H-M supporters need to convince legislators that the time is right for a new formula. Brinker, 37, said she doesn't want the district to take money away from other school corporations. "Because of the funding formula that we have, we do get shorted on the state side," she said. "I think the state legislature needs to make it a top priority." Warner, 47, likened building momentum for state change to a push several years ago by P-H-M board members that brought about state legislation allowing school districts to sell bonds to finance teacher retirement plans. That process took two years, Warner said, and she anticipated a similar amount of time and effort needed to change school funding. "I believe we have the public will to get the funding changed," Warner said. "It's hard work, and I know that." Gollatz, 64, would like to see P-H-M Superintendent Jerry Thacker campaigning on the district's behalf. "I think we just need to get our superintendent down in Indianapolis and have him start lobbying, as well as all the public," Gollatz said. Gollatz said he doesn't have as much knowledge of school finances or operating budgets the size of the district's as does Warner. But he does have years of classroom experience at Penn High School, where he taught building trades and robotics, a program he created in the mid-1980s. "I've been in the classroom," Gollatz said. "I understand what kids are really about within the school system. ... I just think it's time that we get someone on the board that has experienced the classroom." Brinker, who has two students in the school system, regularly attends school board meetings, and has since 2002, when she ran for school board as a write-in candidate. She tried again in 2004 to win a seat on the board. Though she failed to win a seat in either election, she did increase the number of votes she received, she said. Also a member of the P-H-M Forum, a parent group that meets regularly with Thacker and other administrators, Brinker said she would like to see more communication between school officials and the public. She didn't like the way a budget-cut proposal sent to board members in December was announced to the public before board members had a chance to discuss the changes during a meeting, she said. "Another thing I think I bring to the table is, I'm very open to change," Brinker said. "I'm not afraid to voice my own opinion." Warner has been known to voice dissenting opinions, especially during the district's recent budget-cut discussions. She was one of two board members to vote against a proposal that ended homeroom resource at Penn High School, and team teaching and block scheduling at the district's three middle schools. Bringing back those programs is one of Warner's top priorities, after raises for staff members, if the district's finances turn around, she said. She said she hears from parents and community members about the reputation she has built as someone who stands up for community concerns. "Your community has to trust you," Warner said. "You can't think that they're a rubber-stamp and your voice isn't heard." Staff writer Erin Miller: emiller@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6553